MRE question

[1tiredmama]

When I called the hospital to schedule my son's MRE today, I mentioned that he will need sedation because he has Touretts, I was told that it would be tricky because he would need to drink several cups of barium. For an MRE? It's that true???

I was left wondering how I'm going to coax a teen with Aspergers anxiety over food tastes and textures to drink that stuff. Please tell me the scheduler made a mistake.

 

[my little penguin]

He will have to drink 3 cups full of barium .
If he doesn't drink it . It will go in an ng tube .
The contrast is needed to "light up " inflammation and strictures in the gut.

 

[upsetmom]

My daughter had to drink 1.5 litres in an hour...

 

[farmerswifey]

My son had to drink it also, and it was even a struggle for him, hope you get things sorted x

 

[nogutsnoglory]

Just had another MRE. I had to drink 3 bottles of barium.

I was not sedated but they require a lot of breathing and holding for between 12-23 seconds depending on the image. I suppose they can still get images if he is sedated but maybe not of the same quality.

 

[Mehita]

That's a tricky one. There is a lot of breath holding and shifting around. Will you be at a children's hospital?

My son tried to drink the contrast, but due to the stricture he had, he couldn't and they inserted and NG tube instead and pumped it in that way.

 

[1tiredmama]

Oh, no way will my son be able to drink that! I guess I'll call the doctor tomorrow. He had mentioned the possibility of a pill cam. Would this be a good alternative for my son? And, can someone tell me what an NG tube is?

No, Mehita. He will not be at a children's hospital.

 

[Mehita]

A pill cam might be an option depending on what they're hoping to see. Definitely worth asking about.

An NG tube is a small tube that is inserted through the nose down to the stomach. It can be used to either pump things in (meds, nutrition) or out (bile). You could have him try drinking the barium and if it doesn't go well, maybe switch to an NG tube. Inserting it isn't exactly fun, but maybe they can sedate him for it?

 

[CarolinAlaska]

Would he be able to swallow a capsule about the size of a dime and wear gear taped to his waist for 8-12 hours? Capsule endoscopy also requires prep like a colonoscopy. Once my daughter swallowed it (not too bad), it was just waiting around town all day until they take the gear back off at the end of the day. I didn't actually get to see the gear as my husband took her, but I don't think it was too bad.

MRE does require drinking 2-3 bottles of contrast, but my dd could only get one down and it took her nearly an hour to do it. They did the study anyway and I guess it was okay, because they gave us results the next day, and it didn't read that she didn't have enough contrast. It also requires an IV for IV contrast - I wasn't expecting that, and ended up having to help out as that freaked her out. If I'd have known, I would have gotten some EMLA cream to prep her with...

 

[Johnnysmom]

My son had no problem with the contrast at all. They added some crystal light flavoring and it went fine.

Hopefully it won't be an issue, good luck and let us know how things go.

 

[Devynnsmom]

My daughter had an MRE and although she said the drink was pretty gross, it wasn't the worst she's had to drink. They did put crystal light in ours as well. She felt more yucky from the drink (diarrheah, nausea) than anything.
Good luck.

 

[Jmrogers4]

Well I was just going to post MRE questions as I just talked to Jack's doctor and he wants to do an MRE so this is very timely for us as well. According to the Prometheus prognostic it is showing Jack has the NOD2 marker for stricturing/abscess, which would make sense since that is what his dad has so he wants to check for thickening of bowel wall and switch him to remicade if there is any sign of it before abscess or anything happens

 

[MomRocksOut]

My son had a really hard time drinking the contrast. In fact, so slowly that the contract wasn't were it needed to be to get pictures. So, we went back to the hospital the next week and did ng tube. The tube going in wasn't fun, but not tasting it and being able to have it over with quickly was good. Wish we had done the ng tube from the beginning.

 

[my little penguin]

Most docs tend to do the mre before the pill cam since the pill cam can get stuck if there is narrowing.
Ng stands for naso gastric tube - basically a tube up the nose and down the throat into the stomach.
Little kids have mre that are sedated so that shouldn't be an issue if the doc feels he needs sedated.

 

[1tiredmama]

The doctor and I spoke today. my little penguin is right about the pill cam. If there is a narrowing of the intestine, then the test could result in emergency surgery. So, he spoke to the hospital and together they decided that a CT scan would be best because my son would not need to be still for more than seconds at a time; and therefore, no sedation would be necessary. An NG tube will be used, if needed.

 

[Mehita]

Good luck. I hope all goes well.